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TMI Blog2020 (5) TMI 441X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ieved party, as he had succeeded before the CIT (A) in the ultimate analysis. Not having filed a cross objection, even when the appeal was preferred by the Revenue, it does not mean that an inference can be drawn that the Respondent assessee had accepted the findings in part of the final order, that was decided against him. When the Revenue filed an appeal before the ITAT, the Appellant herein (Respondent before the Tribunal) was entitled under law to defend the same and support the order in appeal on any of the grounds decided against it. Assessee had taken the ground of maintainability before Commissioner (Appeals) and, therefore, in the appeal filed by the Revenue, it could rely upon Rule 27 and advance his arguments, even though it had not filed cross objections against the findings which were against him. ITAT, therefore, committed a mistake by not permitting the assessee to support the final order of CIT (A), by assailing the findings of the CIT(A) on the issues that had been decided against him. The Appellant - assessee, as a Respondent before the ITAT was entitled to agitate the jurisdictional issue relating to the validity of the reassessment proceedings. We are, therefore ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Since there was no compliance to the said notice, another notice was issued under Section 142(1)(ii) of the Act. In response thereto, the appellant filed the original return of income declaring total income of ₹ 8,90,760/- and submitted that the same be treated as a return in compliance to notice under Section 153C of the Act. The assessment proceedings culminated in framing of an assessment order dated 28.12.2010 whereby the return of income of the appellant stood assessed at ₹ 1,46,15,445/-. In the appeal before CIT(A), besides challenging the additions made by the AO on merits, assessee also raised legal grounds qua the validity of the reassessment proceedings undertaken by the revenue under Section 153C of the Act. The jurisdictional challenge to reassessment proceedings was principally premised on two fundamental legal grounds, viz. (i) the AO failed to record a satisfaction note for initiating proceedings under Section 153C of the Act and, (ii) there was no nexus between the issues in the assessment proceedings and the incriminating material seized during the search. The CIT(A) rejected the aforesaid pleas and inter-alia held that there was no need for recording t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tted additional grounds raised by the assessee, we are not adjudicating the issue raised in those additional grounds." 4. The operative portion of the order directing remand reads as under:- 10.3 We have heard the rival submissions and perused the relevant material on record. The issue in dispute in the ground raised is whether the land which was sold by the assessee, was agricultural land in terms of the provisions of the Act. The assessee was required to prove that land was situated beyond 8 kms, from the municipal limit and agricultural activity was carried out by the assessee on the said land. Before us, the assessee has referred pages 43 to 45 of the paper-book, which are handwritten certificate issued by the Patwari (Land Revenue Authority). We agree with the observation of the learned DR that the handwritten certificate is not bearing any seal or name of the Patwari or the person who has issued the certificate. The learned counsel has also not produced the original return of income filed for the earlier years to establish that agricultural income was offered for rate purpose un those returns. The Assessing Officer objected admitting of the additional evidences, however, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , and seek to support confirmation of the Commissioner's order in this way. Rule 27 of the Rule provides for this. 7. He submitted that all the three above-stated remedies and mechanisms exist concurrently and demonstrated that all of them are bound by their own due process. Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules does not require an application to be structured in any particular manner, unlike in the case of cross-appeal or cross objection. He also submitted that the ITAT has applied the new ITAT Rules, 2017 which are yet to be notified and, therefore, have no mandate in law. Therefore, the ITAT has erred in mis-reading a requirement into the rules which does not exist in reality. Mr. Krishnan further argued that by shutting the doors on legal defenses that were available to the appellant and stood concluded in his favour by several precedents, the ITAT has failed to exercise its power and has caused extreme prejudice to the appellant. On both the legal issues viz. non recording of satisfaction note, as well as absence of nexus between reassessment and the material stated to be the basis of framing such assessment, the law stands settled in favour of the assessee. The ITAT has grossly erred by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onal expenses, long term capital gains etc. The assessee [Respondent before ITAT], admittedly did not file a cross appeal or cross objections under section 253(4) of the Act and sought to invoke Rule 27 to question the validity of the proceedings under Section 153C. Thus, in the above noted factual background, we have to consider whether the approach adopted by ITAT in declining the Appellant- assessee [Respondent before ITAT] the right to question the findings of the CIT(A) is correct or not? 11. The Tribunal has taken a pedantic view on the interpretation of Rule 27 by holding that for availing the remedy under the said provision, an application in writing is necessary. In our opinion, this surmise is fallacious and we cannot countenance the same. We agree with Mr. Krishnan that Rule 27, as it stands today, does not mandate for the application to be made in writing. Revenue has not brought to our notice any particular Form notified for filing such an application. Revenue also does not controvert the contention of the Appellant that the draft Appellate Tribunal Rules 2017 proposing to insert a proviso to Rule 27, providing for an application to be made in writing, have not been n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cross objections and sub-Section 4 of Section 253 of the Act. The said provisions read as under:- "Rule 6. Procedure for filing appeals. (1) A memorandum of appeal to the Tribunal shall be presented by the appellant in person or by an agent to the Registrar at the headquarters of the Tribunal at Bombay, or to an officer authorised in this behalf by the Registrar, or sent by registered post addressed to the Registrar or to such officer. (2) A memorandum of appeal sent by post under sub-rule (1) shall be deemed to have been presented to the Registrar or to the officer authorised by the Registrar, on the day on which it is received in the office of the Tribunal at Bombay, or, as the case may be, in the office of such officer. Rule 22.Cross-objections. A memorandum of cross-objections filed under sub-section (4) of section 253 shall be registered and numbered as an appeal and all the rules, so far as may be, shall apply to such appeal. Section 253. Appeals to the Appellate Tribunal. (1) xxxx (2) xxxx (3) xxxx (4) The Assessing Officer or the assessee, as the case may be, on receipt of notice that an appeal against the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), has been p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed, it would not be fettered in its decision by confining to the grounds set forth in the memorandum of appeal or even to those taken by the appellant with the leave of the Tribunal. So long as the principles of natural justice are not violated and the affected person is afforded an opportunity to be heard the Tribunal can dispose of the appeal in its own light. But of course the Tribunal should not act arbitrarily or capriciously but should adopt judicial standards. For example, questions of fact which had not been mooted or discussed or investigated by the Income-tax Officer or by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner should not be gone into at the stage of the appeal before the Tribunal, It would of course be open to the Tribunal to remand the proceedings for fresh ascertainment of facts. The substance of rule 12 is this. The appellant can only urge grounds either set forth in the memorandum of appeal or subsequently taken with the leave of the Tribunal, but the Tribunal's powers to decide the appeal are not subject to any such restrictions. Turning to rule 27 which permits the respondent before the Tribunal to support the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner on any ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... djudication would have a direct impact on the outcome of the appeal. The validity of the proceedings goes into the root of the matter and for this reason, the assessee should not be precluded from raising a challenge to that part of the order which was decided against him by the CIT(A). In this regard, it would be profitable to refer the following extract from the judgment of Sundaram & Co.(supra),where the court had also examined as to what constituted 'subject-matter of an appeal' and held as follows: "14. Learned counsel for the department contends that it would not be open to a respondent to travel outside the scope of the subject-matter of the appeal under the guise of invoking rule 27. This contention is unexceptionable and we do not think that the learned counsel for the assessee disputed it. But then, what is the subject-matter of an appeal? The answer is simple. The subject-matter is that which the Tribunal or the appellate court is called upon to decide and to adjudicate. The subject-matter cannot be identified with the grounds raised either by the appellant or bythe respondent. In the present case the subject-matter of the appeal before the Tribunal was the reduction o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nly to support the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner on other grounds, it would follow that the Tribunal would have no jurisdiction to pass an order, so as to permit a ground to be raised by the respondent which, if allowed, would make the position of the appellant worse than what it was before." 16. The principle underlying this decision is that the Tribunal has no power to enlarge the scope of the appeal before it by permitting either the appellant or the respondent to urge grounds which would have the effect of destroying the finality of that portion of the order of the original authority which had not been appealed against by either of the parties. But this does not mean that the respondent should be denied the opportunity of supporting a decision in his favour which has come up on appeal on a ground decided against him by the authority whose decision is challenged. 17. We would like to refer to two decisions of the Bombay High Court on this question of the scope of appellate power of the Tribunal and the right of the respondent to support the decision on grounds decided against him. In J.B. Greaves v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1963] 49 I.T.R. 107.] the Bomba ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is the relief sought by the assessee and objected to by the department. The grounds are only missiles employed by the combatants to achieve their respective desired ends. It would not be possible to circumscribe the subject of the appeal by taking into account the rival contentions or the reasons or the grounds which are put forward either by the department or by the assessee. We have no doubt that in the light of the principles laid down by this court in V. Ramaswamy Iyengar v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1960] 40 I.T.R. 377.] and also of the principle of the Bombay decision referred to above and on the principles which we have ourselves set forth, the Tribunal acted rightly in permitting the assessee to raise the question of the applicability of section 34 before it. Questions Nos. 1 and 2 raised in this reference will, therefore, be answered against the department and in favour of the assessee." (emphasis supplied) 15. Now, we shall deliberate on the judgement of this Court in Commissioner of Income Tax Central - II v Divine Infracon Pvt. Ltd, 2015 64 taxman.com 472 (Delhi) which has been strongly relied upon Mr. Hossain to suggest that the court has taken a different view on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... before the High Court, inter alia, on the ground that the matter could not be reopened by the Tribunal. In this context, the Supreme Court held that, "We have already noticed that the order passed by the Tribunal to reopen the matter for further hearing as regards ground No. 7 has attained its finality. In the circumstances, the High Court could not have interfered with the final order passed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal." 7. We find considerable merit in the contention advanced on behalf of the Assessee. Concededly, the issue whether the additions made by the AO were beyond the scope of Section 153A had been decided by the CIT (A) in favour of the Assessee and the decision on the said issue had attained finality as the revenue had not preferred any appeal with regard to the CIT (A)'s order. 8. It is also relevant to note that by virtue of Section 253(2) of the Act, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, if he objects to an order passed by the CIT (A) under Section 250 of the Act, direct the AO to prefer an appeal to the Tribunal. It is not disputed that no such directions to file an appeal against the CIT (A)'s order dated 21st January, 20 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the said case in order to understand the context in which the aforenoted observations were rendered by the court. In the said case, the assessment was framed under section 153A of the Act making an addition in respect of share application money amounting to ₹ 20,25,000/-. The CIT (A) took into consideration detailed submissions as to validity of the proceedings under section 153A, as is evident from grounds raised therein, as well as on substantive issues. On the former, the CIT (A) held that there was 'considerable merit' in the contentions, but at the same time, the additions under section 68 of the Act were confirmed, partly allowing the appeal. The Assessee then impugned the action of the CIT(A) specifically on the point of contradictory findings i.e having found merit on the legal issue viz. section 153A, the additions could not have been sustained. This is evident from ground urged before the Tribunal to the effect "That the Learned CIT (Appeals) has grossly erred in law and on facts in sustaining the addition made by Assessing Officer under sec.68 of the Act amounting to ₹ 20,25,00,000 particularly having regard to the fact that very assumption of jurisdictio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , contended that in case the appeal was allowed the whole of the addition should not be deleted but only part of it to the extent disallowed by the AAC. The Tribunal while rejecting the department's contention under rule 27, set aside the whole enhancement as it found that the AAC made the enhancement based on no material evidence. Thus, a reference was made from the said decision to the High court under section 66(2) of the old act. The High Court firstly examined as to what constituted the subject matter of appeal. Furthermore, the High Court held that the appellant would not be left in a worse off position than where it was before filing of the appeal, if the said ground raised by the respondent under Rule 27 was examined and allowed by the tribunal, as the AAC had decided in favour of the respondent-assessee on merits. The relevant portion of the aforenoted judgment is extracted hereunder: "16. How then is the subject-matter of the appeal to be determined? This is easy, for an appeal comes up before the Tribunal because one of the parties before the AAC- the assessee or the ITO is aggrieved by the order of the AAC. He comes to the Tribunal to have his grievance redressed and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lant. In fact such a ground may be a totally new ground, if it is purely one of law, and does not necessitate the regarding of any evidence, even though the nature of the objection may be such that it is not only a defence to the appeal itself but goes further and may affect the validity of the entire proceedings. But the entertainment of such a ground would be subject to the restriction that even if it is accepted, it should be given effect to only for the purpose of sustaining the order in appeal and dismissing the appeal and cannot be made use of, to disturb or to set aside, the order in favour of the appellant (See Bamasi v. CIT, [1972] 83 ITR 223 (Bom)). This liberty to the respondent is reserved by r. 27 of the Tribunal Rules. xxx xxx xxx 23. Of course, as pointed out by the Bombay High Court in Bamasi v. CIT, [1972] 83 ITR 223, earlier referred to, the assessee could use this argument only to sustain the order of the AAC but not to get further relief and have the reassessment itself annulled and thus adversely affect the appellant and place it in a worse position than if it had not appealed at all. This decision illustrates the principle that the subject-matter of the ap ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e same matter by the lower court are also considered as requested by the respondent. It seems to us that the position in the present case is somewhat similar. The ITO had treated certain transactions as sham and collusive, disallowed the losses claimed and consequently disallowed the interest admitted by the assessee to relate to these transactions. On appeal, the AAC treated the transactions as genuine but considered the prices to be inflated. He, therefore, computed a profit and as a logical corollary, allowed the interest substantially (except to the extent of inflation found by him). When, on appeal, the Tribunal decides to restore the ITO's finding that the transactions were bogus then the logical consequence will be a reversal of the AAC's allowance of interest also. For the reasons discussed above, we are unable to construe the subject-matter of the appeal as restricted to the ground raised, viz., deletion of ₹ 9,28,000. We think the subject-matter of the appeal was the genuineness or otherwise of the share transactions and the profit assessable in respect thereof. On this, the AAC had given two findings, one against the assessee and the other against the depar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r be heard in support of any ground not set forth in the memorandum of appeal, and the Tribunal, in deciding the appeal, would not be confined to the grounds set forth in the memorandum of appeal. This, however, does not mean that the Respondent is prevented from supporting the judgment on the grounds decided in his favor, or by assailing the aspect decided against him. Accepting Mr. Hossain's submission would mean that subject matter of the appeal is circumscribed and is confined only to the grounds urged by the Appellant. Firstly, the subject matter of an appeal is not be construed narrowly, as already observed above. Subject matter is "comprehended as to encompass the entire controversy between the parties which is sought to be got adjudicated upon by the Tribunal". Secondly, if jurisdictional objection under Rule 27 is gone into by the Tribunal, albeit raised by resort to Rule 27, it cannot be said that the subject matter is expanded under the guise of the said provision. It cannot be said that Respondent is taking away benefit that could be said to have accrued in favour of the Appellant before the Tribunal. The jurisdictional question is not an independent issue that can be r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tuation before us, we can easily discern that the Appellant-assessee- on the basis of Rule 27, was urging before the ITAT that the initiation of reassessment may be declared as invalid. Therefore, by invoking Rule 27, the assessee sought to support the final order of the CIT(A) in his favour, by assailing that part of the said order, wherein the CIT(A) upheld the initiation of reassessment under Section 153C of the Act. We are, therefore, of the view that invocation of Rule 27 for challenging the decision of the CIT (A) on the legal ground was well within the scope of Rule 27. The Appellant - assessee, as a respondent before the Tribunal was within its right to support the order under appeal before the Tribunal by attacking the grounds decided against him. It should nevertheless be borne in mind that Rule 27 cannot be invoked by a Respondent on an issue which is independently decided against him in the order appealed by the Appellant. In other words, if there is an issue, which is separately decided against a Respondent [in appeal], and the decision on the said issue has no bearing on the final decision of the CIT (A), then invocation of Rule 27 to challenge the correctness of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nacted, scope for invocation of the principle underlying the rule would still be possible based on principles of natural justice. This is the essence of the proceedings in appeal before the ITAT which unfortunately has been completely ignored and, instead, the Tribunal has engaged itself in a totally irrelevant issue of the form and structure of the application. 22. Therefore, the position of law that materialises on a reading of the aforesaid decisions is that the appellant herein, (Respondent before ITAT) could have invoked Rule 27 to assail those grounds that were decided against him if those grounds/issues had a bearing on the final decision of the CIT(A). Revenue was certainly not taken by surprise as the appeal is considered to be continuation of the original proceedings. The ITAT had no discretion to deprive the appellant the benefit of the enabling Rule provision to defend the order of the CIT(A). The question of jurisdiction -which is sought to be urged by the Respondent while supporting the order in appeal, had a bearing on the final order passed by the CIT(A), because if the said issues were to be decided in favour of the appellant herein the assessee, that would have b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder Section 66 (1) of the Act. The question on reference to the High Court was "Whether on a proper construction of rule 27 of the Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1946, the assessee-respondent having not appealed against the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was entitled to contend, in the department's appeal before the Tribunal, that the entire profit arising out of the sale of land was not liable to assessment?" The question was answered in the negative, and it was held that the assessee could contend that the receipts were not profits of a business at all, but for the purpose of showing that the department was not entitled to succeed in the appeal i.e. to an increase in the assessed income and not for the purpose of claiming the relief of quashing of the assessment order. It was held that so long as it did not ask for the quashing of the assessment order, its plea that the receipts were not profits ought to have been entertained. It was thus held that the answer to the question referred depends upon what the assessee prayed for before the Appellant Assistant Commissioner. If it prayed that the assessment order be quashed, it was not entitled to be heard, whereas if it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... grounds of attack and of defence. An appeal to the Tribunal whether by the department or by an assessee is like an appeal by a defendant or a plaintiff from a decree accepting or rejecting the entire claim of the plaintiff. There is no scope for any cross-objection and consequently no scope for the respondent's, e.g., the assessee's or the department's urging for reduction in the assessed income or increase in the assessed income, as the case may be. If the appellant before the Tribunal is the department claiming increase in the assessed income all that the assessee can urge is that there should be no increase; that is the only subject-matter of the appeal. If the assessee desires reduction in the assessed amount he himself must file an appeal; he has not been given the right to file a cross-objection. The only right given to him is of urging that there should be no increase, not only for the ground of defence accepted by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner but also for the other ground of defence rejected by him. This is the only right given to him by rule 27. There is only one order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner that assessing the income at a certain figur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessed his income. But since the non-liability to assessment on any income includes the non-liability to assessment on a particular receipt he can object to the inclusion of the receipt in his assessable income on the ground that he is not liable to be assessed on any receipt. This is supporting, and not demolishing, the assessment order passed against him, provided he does not ask for cancellation of the assessment order. He could have filed an appeal against his being assessed but was not bound to do so even though he believed that he was not liable to be assessed at all. If he did not mind paying the tax on the assessed amount nothing compelled him to file an appeal. But this fact that he did not file an appeal does not estop him from contending in the department's appeal for an increase in the assessed amount that there should be no increase. He is not barred either by the rule of estoppel or by the rule of res judicata on account of the fact that on that ground he should not have been assessed at all and that he has submitted to his being assessed. His submission to the assessment order does not amount to his submission to assessability. If the assessment order becomes f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t is limited by the scope of the appeal. It cannot travel outside its scope and pass any order even though it thinks it a fit order. It has to pass an order on the appeal, i.e., in respect of the subject-matter of the appeal. The order that it thinks fit must be in respect of the subject-matter of the appeal and so long as it is in respect of it it can be passed regardless of its nature or contents. I respectfully agree with the observation of Sir Leonard Stone C.J. and Kania J. in Motor Union Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1945] 13 I.T.R. 272.] at page 283, of Chagla C.J. and Tendolkar J. in Puranmal Radhakishan v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1957] 31 I.T.R. 294.] at page 304 and in New India Life Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1957] 31 I.T.R. 844.] and of Jagadisan and Srinivasan JJ. in Commissioner of Incometax v. Sundaram & Company Private Ltd. [[1964] 52 I.T.R. 763.] at pages 759 and 770, that "the word 'thereon' used in section 33(4) only means 'on the appeal', which must mean on the grounds raised in the appeal." In the last case the learned judges observed that "the subject-matter of an appeal…. is that which the Tribunal or t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... same in terms of Section 115 JB. The AO issued notices for reopening of the assessments and ultimately framed reassessment by making various additions. In appeal, the assessee contested the reopening of the assessments and also the addition made by AO. The Commissioner (Appeals) allowed the appeals on the additions made by the AO, however on the question of validity of reopening of the assessments, he held against the assessee. Revenue preferred an appeal before the Tribunal, where the assessee - Respondent without filing an appeal, relied upon Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules and raised the legal issue of the validity of assessments before the Tribunal. Despite objections from the Revenue, the Tribunal permitted the assessee to raise such contentions and ultimately held that the notice for reopening of assessment was bad in law. When the matter travelled to the High Court, the question arose as to whether the Tribunal was right in law by allowing Respondent - assessee to raise question of validity of notices for reopening of assessments taking the recourse of Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules without assessee having filed cross appeal or cross objection before the Tribunal against order of Comm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 8377; 59,000/- and odd and there being no appeal by the Bank against the finding that the balance of the ₹ 80,000/- had not gone in discharge of an antecedent debt, the respondent was precluded from putting forward a contention that the entire sum of ₹ 80,000/- covered by Exs. A and B went for the discharge of antecedent debts. We do not see any substance in this objection, because the respondent is entitled to canvass the correctness of findings against it in order to support the decree that has been passed against the appellant. 13. Likewise, in case of S. Nazeer Ahmed v. State Bank of Mysore AIR 2007 SCW 766 it was held and observed as under: "7. The High Court, in our view, was clearly in error in holding that the appellant not having filed a memorandum of cross-objections in terms of Order XLI Rule 22 of the Code, could not challenge the finding of the trial court that the suit was not barred by Order II Rule 2 of the Code. The respondent in an appeal is entitled to support the decree of the trial court even by challenging any of the findings that might have been rendered by the trial court against himself. For supporting the decree passed by the trial cou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rred under sub-section (1) or subsection (2) by the other party, may, notwithstanding that no appeal had been filed against such an order or any part thereof, within 30 days of the notice, file a memorandum of cross objections verified in the prescribed manner and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the period of limitation prescribed under sub-section (3). Therefore, on a plain reading of the provision, it transpires that a party has been granted an option or a discretion to file cross objection. 19. In case a party having succeeded before Commissioner (Appeals) opts not to file cross objection even when an appeal has been preferred by the other party, from that it is not possible to infer that the said party has accepted the order or the part thereof which was against the respondent. The Tribunal has, in the present case, unfortunately drawn such an inference which is not supported by the plain language employed by the provision. 20. If the inference drawn by the Tribunal is accepted as a correct proposition, it would render Rule 27 of the Tribunal Rules redundant and nugatory. It is not possible to interpret the provi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y upon Rule 27 and advance his arguments, even though it had not filed cross objections against the findings which were against him. The ITAT, therefore, committed a mistake by not permitting the assessee to support the final order of CIT (A), by assailing the findings of the CIT(A) on the issues that had been decided against him. The Appellant - assessee, as a Respondent before the ITAT was entitled to agitate the jurisdictional issue relating to the validity of the reassessment proceedings. We are, therefore, of the considered opinion that the impugned order passed by the ITAT suffers from perversity in so far as it refused to allow the Appellant - assessee (Respondent before the Tribunal) to urge the grounds by way of an oral application under Rule 27. The question of law as framed is answered in favour of the Appellant - assessee and resultantly the impugned order is set aside. The matter is remanded back before the ITAT with a direction to hear the matter afresh by allowing the Appellant- assessee to raise the additional grounds, under Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules, pertaining to issues relating to the assumption of jurisdiction and the validity of the reassessment proceedings und ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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